25 most frugal cities revealed

More hard-hitting research from Coupons.com in this press release:, which puts Chicago as the No. 19 most frugal metro area and San Francisco at No. 21.

(Psst! No one in San Francisco is frugal or they would not be living there.)

Mountain View, Calif. – Greater Atlanta residents certainly know how to stretch a dollar, as the Georgia capital retained the number one ranking on the ‘Most Frugal U.S. Cities’ list for the fourth straight year, according to the 2012 Coupons.com Savings Index released today by Coupons.com. Orlando took the number two position, with Tampa, Nashville and Charlotte rounding out the top five.

“305 billion coupons were distributed in the U.S in 2012, giving consumers more than $450 billion in potential savings. That’s more than the gross national product of most countries,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com household savings expert. “And, while saving money is a priority in every region across the United States, the Midwest dominates the most frugal U.S. cities list, with more than double the number of cities than any other region.”

Sacramento made the biggest jump on the overall list, moving to the number nine spot after not making the top 25 in 2011, while Boston jumped 19 spots, from #26 in 2011 to #7 in 2012. The overall rankings saw three additional cities crack the top 25 list for the first time, including San Francisco, Detroit and Las Vegas, while five cities dropped off the list this year: Raleigh, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Providence.

The South holds the top spots on the list but that still couldn’t keep it from being edged out by the number one region overall – the Midwest. Eleven cities helped the Heartland grab almost half of the spots in the top 25.

Ohio remains the country’s most frugal state. The Buckeye state is represented three times on the list – Cleveland (#8), Columbus (#12) and Cincinnati (#13).

Orlando residents proved they know how to leverage their mobile devices to save in 2012, as the city moved to the top of the ‘Most On-the-Go Frugal Cities’ list, according to the Coupons.com Savings Index, based on usage of Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and Coupons.com mobile apps. Rounding out the top five are: Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa and Dallas.

“With the number of smartphones and tablets exceeding the number of PCs in the U.S., it’s no surprise American consumers are increasingly looking to their mobile devices to save money and stretch grocery budgets,” continued Pavini. “It’s never been easier to access, browse, print and save coupons on-the-go with mobile apps that turn smartphones into savings experts.”

Highlighting that residents of certain cities prefer to click their coupons from smart phones or other mobile devices, 2012 marks the second straight year that Austin (#18) has made the mobile list, but not the overall list; Houston (#23) joins Austin in this distinction. Denver placed eight spots higher on the mobile list (#16) versus its position on the overall top cities, while Sacramento and Minneapolis did not crack the mobile top 25, but ranked #9 and #23 on the overall list.